Developing Clear Communication in a Church Capital Campaign - Part III

John Caples, a marketing copywriter, once wrote: “I’ve seen one advertisement sell not twice or three times as much, but l9 times as much as another. Both ads occupied the same amount of space in the same publication. Both had photographs and carefully written copy. The difference was that one used the right appeal (the audience’s point of reference was considered), and the other used the wrong appeal.”

Obviously, you’re not selling a commodity — but you’re in the business of deepening understanding and acceptance buy-in of the vision, and the need to support that vision. So, with the right appeal, you can gear all creativity (writing and graphics) accordingly and, thus, better hit the mark with your audience in your capital campaign.

David Ogilvy once said to his copywriter: “I’m not saying that charming, witty and warm copy won’t motivate. I’m just saying that I’ve seen thousands of charming, witty campaigns that didn’t.” Do you want glowing things that can be framed by copywriters, or do you want to maximize church response rate in your capital campaign?

Based on this sentiment, it’s often wise to enlist an internal communications overseer (not a designer) who can clearly see the big picture. This pivotal team member should seek assistance to guide communications development in a way that’s beyond his or her own limited perspective. For example, it wouldn’t be wise to have an overly-hip group of post-Generation-X designers develop the communication pieces for your capital campaign from their personal perspectives (without unbiased oversight) if the majority of the major donors in that particular congregation are 50 or older. The same, of course, is true in reverse.

Receiver-oriented communications must be both specifically targeted and easy to follow. By “targeted,” we mean you must focus on one thing, or no more than a few strategic goals. Shooting for everything is to shoot for nothing. With clear, targeted communications, you can appropriately tell your story and vision in a manner that captures the imagination. Doing this in a focused manner must be the driving force behind all good campaign communications. Like a train, the focused vision ahead is the engine that propels everything; design styles, images, fonts and so forth should follow.

Never design for design’s sake. Many things are fighting to grab your congregation’s attention, so it’s critical that the communications clearly lay out the steps ahead necessary to get to that larger vision.
Let the audience know what you want them to consider and why. Each objective and perceived challenge in a church building program should be adequately explained. It’s not only wise to do so, but it’s right.

Writer Michael Novak once stated, “Clarity of what works is an ethical imperative. Otherwise, you’ll reap exactly what you sow.” If the church communications sow a lack of clear direction on the steps in the vision, you’ll surely reap a corresponding response when asking for needed service commitments and increased giving. Your people will be confused about the goal and, as a result, hesitant to invest.
We hope for better returns than this for you: returns of a deep commitment from the congregation, rooted in a thorough understanding of the envisioned end, and the steps to get there. To lead them to that commitment, thoughtfully developed, receiver-oriented capital campaign materials are your best tools.

Developing Clear Communication in a Church Capital Campaign - Part II

Determine the right capital campaign communication track for your congregation. Not all communication roll outs propel the vision further in the right direction. As advertising legend David Ogilvy wisely points out: “It’s said that the head of marketing research at Ford once inserted advertisements in every other copy of the Reader’s Digest. At the end of the year, the people who had not been exposed to the advertising had bought more Fords than those who had.” Oops!

In a capital campaign, appropriately and contextually portraying the vision is critical. What do we mean by “appropriately”? Again, it means developing communications, starting with the receiver’s point of reference. This is true whether the church is Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Independent, or any other. Clear and compelling communications is essential for any capital campaign.

Sometimes, professional stewardship campaign strategists or church building consultants include helpful feasibility studies as part of their consulting package. Of course, these studies are quite valuable in many more areas than just communications; however, they will help provide the key information to make the case for support, one of the most important pieces in your capital campaign.

So, how does one determine the audience’s perspective? With a few good diagnostic questions to yield good insight, a discerning communications professional can get a feel for the culture(s) of your church and what will be appropriate. For example, asking questions about the history of the church is a good start. Questions pertaining to key influences on the leadership and the vision — and how much the church has been exposed to those ideas — are also helpful. With a good understanding of the audience’s point of reference, a communications track is now set to help guide the verbal and design direction. Make no mistake: It will make a difference in how well your church executes its capital campaign.

Developing Clear Communication in a Church Capital Campaign - Part I

A great vision from God calls forth something in us: We must not only share it, but engage and enlist others to join us in pursuing it, thus is the vision behind your church’s capital campaign. There’s a responsibility before God to see that the vision is clearly, adequately communicated to the congregation, and that it’s done so in a relevant manner. The hope for your church capital campaign is that He will raise a unified ownership to embrace the road ahead, as well as all its costs for the journey. Along with the case for support, stationery, brochures, newsletters, and question-and-answer pamphlets — all play roles in communicating the vision. (view samples of our capital campaign materials portfolio). The key to developing excellent, clear communications for your capital campaign is to first consider the receiver’s point of view.

As with any other principled approach to accomplishing something great for the Kingdom, communications will only support the means of grace found in faith and prayer, along with a commitment to the Word as your guide. With that said, thoughtfully executed capital campaign communications — along with other key components — will help make your vision a reality, and your capital campaign a success.

Effective, receiver-oriented communications complement the capital campaign and increase success. Whether you’re working with an outside consulting firm for overall coaching or depending solely on your own resources, well-executed communications are a vital complement to your efforts. When coupled with a solid major -donor gift-development strategy, there’s no better way to maximize your church’s potential for faith pledges and corresponding giving.

We’re talking about the kind of communications that resonate with the congregation. These tools must effectively use words and images to memorably and accurately portray your vision and needs with excellence and consistency. They must maximize and sustain continual, top-of-mind awareness in the trusted direction of the leadership under God’s guidance. Your capital campaign communication materials must inform and exhort in a manner that is understandable and relevant to your congregation.

Thorough communications will support the understanding of the other components of the overall capital campaign as well. For example, communications can be used to solidify an understanding of why a stewardship firm might have been entrusted with the task of consulting. They can be used to clarify and support the leadership’s intentions related to the plans of the architect and builder and their associated costs. A deeper understanding of these issues will certainly help to avoid problems (or confusion) later, and will build support for your church’s capital campaign.